Disney Developing Live-Action Cruella De Vil Film CRUELLA

Disney has been dusting off some of its classic properties as of late for live-action updates, and it appears that a sort of Villains series could be in the works. Production is currently underway on director Kenneth Branagh’s live-action Cinderella redo and next year will see the release of the Angelina Jolie-fronted Maleficent, and now the studio has announced plans to give the star-vehicle treatment to 101 Dalmatians antagonist Cruella De Vil. Hit the jump for more on the proposed Cruella film.

THR reports that The Devil Wears Prada scribe Aline Brosh McKenna—who also penned the script for Cinderella—has been tapped to write the screenplay for Cruella. The film will focus on the 101 Dalmations villain, but further details regarding this new take are unknown. The character first appeared in the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians before becoming a terrifying animated villainess in Disney’s 1961 feature. Glenn Close famously brought De Vil to life in the 1996 live-action update and its subsequent sequel.

Andrew Gunn (Bedtime Stories) will be producing Cruella, and it’ll be interesting to see how this project moves forward. Maleficent will be Disney’s first test case to see if a villain POV story catches on with audiences, and if the pic does big box office we can reasonably expect to see Cruella move forward quickly. How many more Disney villains should we plan on seeing get the live-action treatment? Matt half-jokingly suggested a Jon Hamm-fronted Gaston movie, but are Ursula and Jafar movies really not far behind?